Preschool Story Time - Letter of the Month is B

In our continuing series, this month we move on to the letter B!

We start with our mail bag with our 5 envelopes.  This month they held a banana, balloon, bat (in underwear), bike, and the letter B.  I love doing this activity and so do the kids.  Everyone wants to know what is in the mail bag.

Then we sang (with me on ukulele) Our Librarian has a Book, (to the tune of Old MacDonald).
Our Librarian has a book, E-I-E-I-O
And in that book there were some Bs, E-I-E-I-O.
With a B(uh) B(uh) here.....you get the idea.

Early literacy tip alert: The letter B sound is a puff of air (like P) and you can't and shouldn't drag it out (like mmmmmmm).  So when teaching the letter sound, don't be a sheep....its not baaaaaa or buuuuuuh. Make it short and sweet!

We prefaced each book with the question, "Now WHY would Miss Sue be reading THIS book today?" They quickly would respond something like "Because BANANA starts with B!" YES!

Darling Book!!  Isabel is tired of not being allowed a balloon because they are dangerous for porcupines.  Can she figure out a way to play with one safely before Graduation Day?

Check out my felt set!  Squee!  This is for a quick limerick by Edward Lear:
There was an old man with a beard
Who said, "This is just as I feared!
Two owls, a hen, four larks, and a wren
Have all made their nest in my beard!"

I start with my Old Man:

And one by one, pull the birds (Beard and Birds start with B!!) out of the little pockets I made in his beard.

I think this one was more for the moms than the kids because the moms were giggling and the kids all thought I was nuts.  But I couldn't resist this little poem for B week, so there it is. 

Sloppy, lazy mouse thinks it is funny to throw his used banana peels all over the jungle, until all of the animals start slipping on them!  Can they convince mouse that it's not cool to leave trash all over the jungle floor?

After halftime, we settled back with a rhyme.  I have an old school felt set for Little Boy Blue, so we looked at that, and recited it together:
Little Boy Blue come blow your horn.
The sheep's in the meadow, the cow's in the corn.
But where is the little boy who tends to the sheep?
He's under the haystack, fast asleep.

I like using Mother Goose rhymes in story time because they are familiar, rhythmical, and rhyming.  The kids also feel special that they already know some of the materials I am using.  Technically for B week, I could use Baa Baa Black Sheep too - but I chose Little Boy Blue.

Bear would like some honey, but he is afraid of Bee.  Bear's misconceptions about what a Bee is like keeps him from a very fruitful friendship.

I really like the rhymes and visuals in this book.  Written like a chant, these book explores all kinds of bugs!  This busy book would be great to explore further one-on-one.

And my craft:  This was taken from another blogger Miss Maren's Monkeys (includes a template!)
I didn't add bee stripes because I wanted to leave room for the kids to add any decoration to the bee that they wanted.  Some copied me, some made stripes, and some went bananas with a purple crayon.  It's all good!!

Thanks for stopping by!  I already can't wait for the letter C story time.  These letter story times have been so far, very well received!